Learner-Focused Feedback: 19 Strategies to Observe for Impact

by Amy Tepper, Patrick W. Flynn

Overview

New strategies for feedback that supports a culture of learning

The skill set required for observing why students are learning and how teachers influence that is a difficult one to master—yet it’s essential when it comes to driving change and growth in your school. This companion to Feedback to Feed Forward provides a curated collection of strategies to improve your ability to identify desired outcomes, recognize learning in action, collect relevant and accurate evidence, and develop smart, supportive, and effective feedback about a teacher’s impact on learners.

And it’s not just leaders, coaches, and administrators who can use this highly accessible how-to. This time around, Tepper and Flynn also address the needs of teachers who double as observers, whether they’re mentoring new teachers, supporting each other or analyzing the effectiveness of their own teaching. No matter your role, you’ll benefit from their expert guidance, as well as:

·         Authentic classroom examples
·         Observer think-alouds
·         Stories from the field with "Give-It-a-Try" tools and "Stop and Think" questions
·         Follow-up steps specific to your role 

When classroom observation and feedback are both learner-centered (focused on students) and learning-focused (focused on teachers as learners), they lead to a culture of learning throughout the school. Take this book as your guide, and explore just how effective your feedback can be.

Learner-Focused Feedback has been recognized for focusing on practices that have high effect sizes and will help you translate the groundbreaking Visible Learning research into practice. When educators use strategies that have high effects (greater than 0.40), they can accelerate student achievement. The power of the Visible Learning research lies in helping educators understand which factors have the highest impact on student achievement so that educators can begin making strategic decisions based on evidence that will utilize their time, energy, and resources to the best extent possible. The Visible Learning research is based on Professor John Hattie’s unmatched meta-analysis of more than 1,600 research reviews comprising 95,000 studies, involving more than 300 million students—the world’s largest evidence base on what works best in schools to improve student learning. From that research, Dr. Hattie identified more than 250 factors that have an impact on student achievement.  
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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781544368276
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	01/16/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Amy Tepper has served as a teacher, administrator, and program director in various K-12 settings and startups to include virtual, homeschool, blended, and public schools. She held the position of Executive Director of a Sylvan Learning Center, opened an alternative 6th-12th school in Okaloosa County, FL, and later was actively engaged in Florida high school redesign and career education reform, providing technical assistance across the state. Amy had the opportunity to collaborate with a team of parents to develop the Ohana Institute, an innovative blended school, focused on global citizenship and discovery learning, serving as Director in its first year. As a consultant, she provided instructional and administrative coaching at an international school in Panama, before joining ReVISION Learning Partnership in 2013. Amy has since completed countless classroom observations through work as a peer validator evaluating practices in Newark and New Haven schools, and in providing embedded, ongoing support for instructional leaders and teachers in the areas of high quality observation, feedback, and teaching and learning across Connecticut.
Patrick Flynn has worked as a teacher, teacher leader, curriculum director, and executive program director in K-12 settings in over eleven different states. As the Executive Director of High Schools for Edison Schools and the Chief Academic Officer for Great Schools Workshop in Sacramento, CA, Patrick worked with building and district administrations in nine states to implement systemic high school reform. He has provided professional learning in the areas of transformational leadership, performance management systems, standards-driven instruction, and data-driven decision-making. Patrick is Founder and Executive Director of ReVISION Learning Partnership, providing professional development and support to districts and educational organizations in CT, NY, NJ, and LA since 2010. He has led several school improvement initiatives in rural and urban settings and internationally in the United Arab Emirates with the Abu Dhabi Education Council. He has presented nationally and internationally, including as a keynote speaker at the Forum on Big Data at the Tianjin University of Technology, in Tianjin, China. ReVISION Learning is highly sought after for its leadership in providing the highest quality professional learning opportunities for teacher, administrators, and district personnel.

Table of Contents

List of Online Resources
Feedback to Feed Forward Strategies
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Chapter 1: Why Observe for Impact?
Building a Culture of Learning
Building a Culture of Observation and Feedback
The Skills of Observation
Teachers as Learners
Leaders Leading Learning
What’s Ahead
Chapter 2: What Do You Need to Understand About Learning?
Understanding the Concept of Learning
Overarching Goals for All Learners
Our Three Goals
Cautions for Observers
How the Brain Works
Identifying Learning in Action
Recognizing Impact on Learning
Determining Causal Attribution
Give It a Try
What’s Ahead
Chapter 3: How Can You Prepare for Evidence Collection?
Preobservation Planning
Planning Your Tools
Planning by Using Expectations
Planning to Interact With Learners
Planning Using Learning Goals
Planning Based on Disciplines
Planning Based on Standards
Give It a Try
What’s Ahead
Chapter 4: How Can You Adapt Evidence Collection Upon Arrival?
Your Goals as an Observer
Adapting 101: The Basics
Metacognition in Motion
Making It Count
Timing Is Everything
Using the Learning Goals
Foundational Understandings
Student Ability to Meet Expectations
Give It a Try
What’s Ahead
Chapter 5: How Can You Adapt Evidence Collection as a Lesson Unfolds?
Observing for Learning
Observing for Causal Attribution and Impact
Observing for Good Struggle
Adapting During an Observation
Adapting Based on Active Engagement
Student Notes
Mid-Lesson or End-of-Task/End-of-Lesson Reflections
Adapting Based on Tools and Resources
Adapting Based on Discourse
Give It a Try
What’s Ahead
Chapter 6: How Do You Cultivate a Culture of Learning?
Building a Culture of Learning
Developing Feedback About Impact
Building Trust
Making a Culture Shift
The Six Steps
Final Thoughts
Strategies List
List of Figures
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Learning is incredibly complex. Observing classrooms in order to help teachers grow deserves careful and informed consideration of many integrated parts. I’m grateful to have this excellent book as a cornerstone resource in my work to support teachers. "

Julie Stern

"Learner-Focused Feedback: 19 Strategies to Observe for Impact is a must-read for all administrators and instructional leaders. What a gem! I have quoted, cited, and used this book for my own growth as a school leader observing teachers. The knowledge, experience, and research contained in the pages guides my walk-throughs, from the foundational understanding that “a culture of observation and feedback drives a culture of learning” to the essential second strategy, to define “learning,” and beyond to the strategies on how to adapt evidence collection during an observation. There are not many books that are as practical as Learner-Focused Feedback. It is an indispensable book if you want to observe for impact. "

Kjell Fenn

A leader’s most important job is to help teachers understand their impact on student learning. Collecting evidence of learning through observation is a difficult skill to master, but Tepper and Flynn have given us the tools we need in this essential new resource.

John Hattie

"Learner-Focused Feedback, Tepper and Flynn’s companion book to Feedback to Feed Forward, delves deeply into student learning, how to observe, which questions to ask, and strategies that lead to next steps. The book is a treasure of resources. Children, teachers, and coaches are the winners here. I have never read such a thorough discourse on learning. After 26 years outside of the classroom, it makes me want to go back. "

Claudia Frandsen

"Learner-Focused Feedback: 19 Strategies to Observe for Impact is an essential how-to guide for educators seeking professional growth in the area of observation and feedback. Amy Tepper and Patrick Flynn flawlessly weave classroom examples with strategies for evidence collection that serves as a learning tool and sets the tone for an effective, meaningful conversation. They remind us that observation is not always about evaluation. Using observation and evidence-based feedback for professional growth builds a culture of learning. This book will show you how!

Whether you’re a teacher, instructional coach, or administrator, Tepper and Flynn guide you through strategies to plan for and adapt to student interactions during an observation in order to improve the quality of feedback for the teacher. Simply put, this book is delicious. Try it in digestible bites through the chapters or all at once for the big picture. "

April Strong

"Every school and district have processes in place for classroom observations that can range from peer coaching, informal observations, learning walks, and formal evaluations. These processes are most meaningful when the observer(s) can truly gather information on how instruction, strategies, practices, environment, curricula, and goals impact student learning. In Learner-Focused Feedback, Tepper and Flynn mix the right balance of research, practice, and experience in thousands of classrooms to help observers focus and adapt to what is happening in the classroom to truly understand what students are actually learning. The feedback that can emerge from these adaptive and effective observation practices can most certainly help teachers move their practice forward and in turn improve student learning! "

Kevin J. Hanlon

"Tepper and Flynn’s Learner-Focused Feedback delivers the educational framework necessary to develop a school culture that fosters and embraces teaching and learning for impact. Evidence-based feedback that focuses on the learner is the ultimate approach to not only empower educators to be intentional with every detail of their instruction. It also guides the observer to provide feedback from a growth mindset perspective. I believe Learner-Focused Feedback will create the structures to build a school culture based on trust to allow room for promoting educational equity and student achievement."

Miladys Cepero-Perez

"Learner-Focused Feedback: 19 Strategies to Observe for Impact serves as an essential field guide for supporting teaching and learning in all classrooms. This book highlights why observation and feedback of classroom practice serves as a key lever for improving student outcomes and cultivating a culture of learning. This is the first book that provides the context of adapting evidence collection strategies during a classroom visit making it a must read for anyone supporting teachers through observation and feedback. Tepper and Flynn make their own learning (metacognitive processing) visible and show readers how to advance evidence-collection practices. The inclusion of examples of collected evidence followed by stop and think provides opportunities for reflection and development of observation practices for administrators, coaches and classroom teachers alike. "

Robert Testa

"Every leader knows that educators need high quality feedback. Learner-Focused Feedback: 19 Strategies to Observe for Impact is the practical guide that gives exemplary examples and tools to actually give feedback to move teachers to better instruction. "

Mollie Sullivan Raab